This publication presents information about the retirement status and retirement intentions of people aged 45 years and over who have, at some time, worked for two weeks or more. The data collected in the Retirement and Retirement Intentions topic provide information on retirement trends, the factors which influence decisions to retire, and the income arrangements that retirees and potential retirees have made to provide for their retirement. The data are cross-classified by a range of demographic characteristics such as age, sex, marital status and country of birth, as well as labour force characteristics.

The statistics in this publication were compiled from the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS), conducted throughout Australia during the 2006-07 financial year (excluding the months of August and September 2006), as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Information on the other topics collected in the 2006-07 MPHS can be found in paragraph 1 of the Explanatory Notes.

NOTES ABOUT THE ESTIMATES

The MPHS was designed primarily to provide estimates at the Australia level. Broad estimates are also available for states and territories, although users should exercise caution when using estimates at this level, because of the presence of high sampling errors. For further information about the reliability of the estimates see paragraph 14 of the Explanatory Notes.